


From The Ashes

by dognamedmeatball



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Found Families, Friendship, Gen, Multi, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-05 06:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17319443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dognamedmeatball/pseuds/dognamedmeatball
Summary: The Snap happens. Nico loses everyone he cares about. When he finds out they haven't gone to the Underworld -- and that even the Gods weren't safe from Thanos -- he needs answers to be reunited with his sister and Jason. On a mission to get his friends back, he and Annabeth start poking their noses around where they don't belong, and that catches the attention of what's left of the Avengers. With the Mist disappearing and mortals wising up, Nico is surrounded by danger on all sides. If he wants to get Hazel and Jason back, he needs to trust his new allies. It seems impossible, especially when they are hardly returning the favor. But Nico might just be the key to undoing what Thanos did.





	1. the snap

The sun streamed through the window of Nico's Brooklyn apartment into the kitchen and he reflexively sank away from it into his seat. “It's going to be a nice day,” he remarked mindlessly, peering out at the glass down onto the street below. Already, the roads were congested with traffic, horns were honking, and people were streaming about on their way to work. He smiled and brushed his tangled black hair out of his face, returning to his crossword. “What's a seven letter word that describes something simple starting with 'T'?”  


At the kitchen island, Hazel set down the coffee pot and thought for a moment. “Trivial,” she announced, and finished filling her mug. “Can I get you a refill?”  


Nico nodded and held out his coffee cup. It was nice having Hazel in town. She didn't come out from California very often, but her trips were usually the best parts of his year. She had responsibilities in New Rome, yes, but Hazel insisted that none of them were more important than her brother. She was halfway through her degree at the university in New Rome, studying archeology. The summer break had given her ample time to get away. His sister was transforming while he wasn't looking, Nico noted. Her hair was shorter, her eyes were sparklier, and her smile was brighter. Probably the result of moving in with Frank finally, he thought. Things were changing while he was walled up in Brooklyn. If he didn't come visit her soon, he might blink and miss her whole life.  


He penned in the word Hazel had suggested without bothering to count up letters. If she said it, she was right – Hazel liked crosswords, and liked Nico pretending to like crosswords so he would do them with her during her visits while she cooked up breakfast.  


“We should go to camp while I'm home,” she suggested. “I'd like to see Annabeth and Piper. Do you know how they're doing?”  


He did not. “They're well,” he guessed. Nico had been avoiding the camp like the plague for months, and that meant avoiding Annabeth and Piper, too. “Maybe you should go by yourself,” he said. “I could do a grocery run and get some laundry done. Or pick up a movie for us to watch tonight at the dollar store.”  


Hazel narrowed her eyes at him and came around the kitchen island to perch on the ledge. “What happened?” she asked. “You're not still avoiding Will?” He winced. That had been his reason last time he hadn't wanted to go while Hazel visited – she had tactfully not mentioned it on the next trip. All in all, that was about a year and a half ago now.  


“No,” he said. “That's ancient history. We're cool now.” They were not 'cool,' but they could stand to be in the same room as each other, which Nico thought should count for something. After the awkward, messy breakup of a first boyfriend, he had been uncomfortably trying to avoid the entire situation. The two of them had resolved to be polite once he finally bit the bullet and showed his face again. “Actually, it's... Jason,” he confessed.  


“Did he say something rude?” Hazel asked, her frown deepening. “Do you want me to kick his ass?” She said it so sincerely Nico couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. His sister was probably capable of it physically, but he still had a hard time imagining sweet, soft spoken Hazel knocking Jason out cold. “I'm serious, Nic,” she added insistently, but she was smiling now, too.  


Nico shook his head. “There's no need,” he told her. “I, uh, misread his intentions. I thought... there was a chance for something more,” he admitted, thinking of the way the son of Jupiter's glasses would slide down his nose when he concentrated and the way he laughed easily with Nico, unlike everyone else except Hazel. “And – I think I ruined our friendship,” he said. It had been hard to tell – after Nico had asked him to go out for a drink, Jason had flushed bright pink and stammered for a full minute, at which point Nico had told him he didn't have to answer right away, and then Jason hadn't said anything for a week, and then Nico figured that was pretty much an answer anyway. He told all of this to Hazel, who listened sympathetically with her dark, serious eyes.  


“Oh, Nic,” she said, sighing. “I'm sure he just needs some time to figure out how he feels. It's not nice of him to leave you hanging, though.” She put a kind hand on his shoulder. “Let's eat breakfast, and then I'll IM Annabeth and Piper and ask them to come into town tomorrow. You don't have to join us, but I'm sure they'd be happy to see you.”  


Hazel was overly optimistic, he thought. His self imposed exile had not been disturbed by anyone wondering where he'd gone.  


“In any case, how's things going working for Dad?” she asked, and he let out some of the tension in his shoulders as the subject left Jason Grace.  


“Good so far,” Nico said. “I'm cautiously optimistic he's happy with what I'm doing.” He hesitated. “A lot of it's just monster clean up still – making sure they go back to Tartarus – but he asked me to dogsit Cerberus the other day. I had a pretty good time.” The slobbery puppy had been very sad to see Nico go after all of the walks and ball throwing, but one of them had a day job and it wasn't Nico. He had promised to come back and play soon and gotten his entire body covered in a giant dog kiss for his trouble. “What about you? How are classes?”  


Hazel grinned. “Excellent. My professors are really amazing, you know? I'm pretty lucky to be studying archeology with, well, living fossils.” Some of the ghosts of Pompeii guest lectured, she informed him, and had a very fascinating presentation on volcanic preservation. One of the perks of a demigod university, he supposed.  


“Takes a fossil to know one,” he teased, and she swatted at his head with her palm.  


Suddenly Hazel stiffened. At the same moment, a pit formed in his gut that froze his stomach solid. Nico's head began to spin and he grabbed onto Hazel's shoulder to steady himself. “Something is very wrong,” he said. His words sounded garbled to his own ears.  


Outside, there was a huge car crash, and he leaned out the window to see what was happening. A car had spun out of control and hit another. Were people on the street feeling this too, normal mortals? It might be enough to drive a car off the road if he was behind the wheel right now. But then he saw something that chilled him to the bone – a man on the sidewalk screaming as his hands began to turn to black ash and crumble away from him. Before his eyes, the man's body crumbled away, his screaming head going last before being silenced. People on the street began to run, screaming in terror.  


“What's happening?” Hazel asked quietly as they watched another person begin to fall to pieces. “Who could do this?” Nico didn't have an answer for her. No god or titan seemed powerful enough to do such a thing. How could anyone turn to dust like that – how could it happen to so many people at once?  


“Dad must know,” he said. “We should ask him. Let's go, we should get away from here in case it spreads.” He turned around and froze.  


Hazel was staring at her own fingers where they were starting to turn into blackened ash, flaking away from her body into a trail of falling dust. “Nico?” she said, and her voice was very small.  


He rushed to her and gripped her shoulders. “No,” he said, and tried to tug her away into the shadow realm, tried to pull her into the Underworld away from all of this to safety, but he couldn't seem to move her from where she stood to travel with her. Her arms crumbled apart, and her expression grew more horrified as she realized what was happening. “No, no, no, no!”  


“Nico,” she said, “I love y—”  


Hazel fell to pieces like a burnt newspaper. Scattered ash in Nico's empty hands drifted through his fingers to the ground.  


Nico fell to his knees. On the table, Hazel's emergency phone began to ring. He did not answer. It rang again, and he dragged himself up to it.  


The caller ID read _Franky._  


A sob wracked his body as he answered the call.  


“Oh, gods no,” Frank replied, the cry all he needed to know what had happened. In the background, people were screaming – Frank must have been in the Senate at the moment. “Not Hazel, please,” he begged, “Nico, please help.”  


Nico hung up the phone and sank to the ground. He didn't try to shadow travel away anymore. If the gods were kind they would turn him to dust too. He lay against the wall and waited for oblivion.  


It did not come.


	2. neither above nor below

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth comes to ask a favor. Nico has news. Things aren't right on Olympus.

There was a knock on his door. “Open up,” someone shouted, and Nico lifted his head from where it had been buried in his pillow for the last five days. “I know you’re in there, Nico.” It was Annabeth’s voice. He turned away and stared at the wall. “Don’t make me break this door down,” she threatened.

He groaned and rose. He didn’t want to see her. He didn’t want to see anyone. All Nico wanted was to be left alone – for good. With Hazel gone, and no way to get her back as he’d quickly discovered, Nico just wanted everyone who _hadn’t_ disappeared off the face of the planet to pretend that he had, too. He jerked the door open abruptly, catching Annabeth off guard. “What,” he said flatly.

She looked worse for the wear, like him. Her hair was scraped back into a greasy ponytail and she wore one of Percy’s hoodies, which was far too big for her. The sweater advertised the swim school he taught lessons at. Past tense ‘taught,’ Nico realized, noticing her red eyes. He softened and stepped back to let her in. “He’s gone?”

Annabeth entered his apartment and glanced around quickly. “Yeah,” she said. “And Leo, and Reyna, and Jason, and dozens of our friends.” Nico’s heart hurt to hear that Reyna was gone, but the sting of Jason’s disappearance – without a chance to make up after everything – that was too much. He closed the door behind Annabeth and took a moment to compose himself before turning around to face her again. “We’ve been burning burial shrouds as fast as we can weave them. Why haven’t you come?” Her voice was accusatory, but leaked pain. “Have you been in the Underworld to see them? I know it’s not normal but… could you help me visit him again? Just once,” she started to say quickly, seeing his frozen face and assuming he was going to refuse to help. “I would do anything – just to say goodbye.”

“Annabeth,” Nico said, and took a deep breath. “They’re not in the Underworld.”

She froze and blinked.

“None of them,” he added. “I looked right away… to find Hazel. I thought in the chaos, while Dad was handling several billion spirits, he might be willing to turn a blind eye again to a quick escape. Imagine my surprise when there’s barely a line into Asphodel. Dad didn’t even know until then.” He closed his eyes and tried to stay calm. “No one who dissolved went there.”

Annabeth sank into the couch. “Gods,” she whispered. “Then where…?” She leaned forward intently. “Does that mean they might still be alive? Might still be able to come back?”

Nico shrugged. “Dad doesn’t think so,” he said. “I’ve thought about it, but it feels like an idiot’s fantasy. If their spirits aren’t above or below… I mean, the amount of power required to contain that, it would be noticed.”

“Could they be in Tartarus?” she asked. The room grew colder around them at just the mention of the word. Nico and Annabeth were now the only two living demigods who had been down there, he realized, and he recognized the fear in her eyes when she spoke the name of their previous prison.

He shook his head. “They aren’t,” he said. “The spirits would have powered Tartarus, and he would have escaped by now. And we would have known immediately in the form of fire and brimstone in LA.”

“Nothing could have erased them,” Annabeth insisted. “They must have gone somewhere.”

“Annabeth,” he said, and sat beside her. “I’m sorry. You know I wouldn’t give up if I thought there was anything I could do.”

Her eyes were stormy, but Annabeth held it together. The time for tears was behind her. Nico respected that. He was nowhere as strong, he thought. “You should come with me today,” she said, and rose. “I only came in to New York to go to Olympus. The gods are having an emergency meeting. Maybe they can scour their domains. Lord Apollo might have more insight. They’re saying on the news it was an attack from outer space, so he and Lady Artemis might…” She took a deep breath. “I can’t give up yet, Nico. I’ve already lost him before. I’m not losing him again.”

He nodded. How could he not? She needed hope. “Let me get dressed,” he said, looking down at his ratty sweat pants and black tank top that he’d been wallowing in for days. “I haven’t been… taking care of myself much.”

Annabeth nodded. “Take a shower, too,” she said. Annabeth didn’t bother with politeness – he appreciated that. She gazed at his kitchen, which was a mess of dishes he’d been allowing to pile up. “I’ll do these for you while you get ready to go.” She was a problem solver on every level, he thought. Annabeth knew he didn’t want her to hug him, but she needed to help.

“Thanks,” he said, and left her to get ready.

Thirty minutes later, in clean black jeans and his familiar bomber, Nico emerged to meet Annabeth, who had transformed his kitchen into a state probably cleaner than it had been a week ago. “I’m ready,” he said, and she nodded.

The buses weren’t running – nothing was. Everyone was inside, for the most part, although looters had made short work of the neighborhood around him, smashing store fronts and taking anything they wanted. Life had ground to a halt temporarily as people reeled from the realization they weren’t safe anywhere and mourned the losses they had suffered. Everyone had lost someone. The numbers on the news were astronomical. They were saying they thought it might be half of the population.

It meant the commute would take too long. Annabeth had driven up in the camp van, but had shrouded it with the Mist to protect it from vandals and wanted to keep it safe. Instead, Nico offered to shadow travel the two of them there. As much as Annabeth obviously hated to shadow travel, pragmatics won out, and a few minutes later, they were in the lobby of the Empire State Building.

The desk was unmanned. Nico glanced at Annabeth, who shrugged. “Maybe he disappeared, too,” she said, of the security guard who normally gave demigods the key to the 600th floor. She walked behind the desk. No one was there to stop her – tourism wasn’t particularly popular right now, and no one was going to work this week. She rifled through a few drawers and came up with the small bronze key. “Security won’t know the difference,” she said.

Nico followed her into the elevator and rode with her in silence for what felt like forever. He didn’t have anything to say to her. Just having Annabeth nearby was comforting, though.

Olympus was still there at the top, and part of Nico was relieved. He didn’t know if he’d expected it not to be. The paths still wound up the mountain top toward the temple atop it. He let Annabeth take the lead – the head counselor’s presence would be more appreciated than his.

Things were eerily silent, though. He didn’t like that. Nico watched for dryads, nymphs, satyrs in the woods. There were none. The taste of bile began to rise in his throat. “It’s quiet,” he said.

Annabeth had also noticed. “You don’t think…?”

They were within earshot of the temple now, and could hear the yelling.

“Insolent pup!” Poseidon was thundering. “You may be several millennia old, but you’re still green when it comes to leadership. If you think you’ll sit on the throne of Olympus, you’re in for a nasty peek at reality.”

Athena was also shouting. “For once, we agree, Uncle,” she cried. “You’re rash, and never think ahead. You’ll lead us into ruin.”

“Neither of you can see the bigger picture,” Ares yelled. “Whatever this is, it’s a declaration of war. We don’t need to steady the course. We need action, _now_!”

Annabeth broke into a run. Nico followed. Moments later, they burst into the pavilion, where the ring of thrones surrounded a hearth that was burning low. Immediately, Nico saw it. Half of the thrones were empty. Including Zeus’s.

Athena noticed the two of them immediately. “If you’ll all restrain this foolishness for a moment, my daughter has arrived, likely with news from the camps. And the son of Hades –” she scowled at Nico “—is with her. Do you have your father’s explanation of absence, or has he vanished as well?”

Poseidon and Ares, who had been at each other’s throats, whirled around. The normally calm looking sea god was as stormy and wild as a hurricane. “Annabeth!” he exclaimed. “Why isn’t Percy with you?”

Annabeth’s voice shook when she answered. “I’m so sorry, Lord Poseidon,” she said.

His face smoothed into an unbelievably calm mask. Like the moment before a tidal wave, Nico thought. Instead of responding, Poseidon turned on his heel and left the pavilion.

“Mother,” Annabeth asked, “what happened? How are the gods missing, too?”

Athena waved Ares off in annoyance as he attempted to start in on their argument again. “I’m sorry, my daughter. Even in all of my wisdom, I do not know the force that has attacked our family. There are circumstances greater than all of us. Before Gaia and Ouranous … Before Kronos and Rhea … We are the masters of our realm; there are those that are the masters of us.” She sank into her throne once more. “Zeus has disappeared, along with Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, Hestia, and Dionysus. Several other minor gods have been noticed absent, although it is harder to find them. So far, we know Hecate and Hypno have vanished for certain.”

Ares broke in. “We’re under attack,” he insisted. “Whatever did this, we need to be ready in case it happens again. We have to be united now,” he said.

“You will never lead the gods, Ares,” Athena said.

Hephaestus turned to Nico. The normally quiet god spoke with a rumbling but gentle voice. “What fate did Hades have?” he asked.

“He lives,” Nico said. “But the disappeared mortals and demigods – they aren’t in the Underworld.”

The gods immediately all began to shout upon hearing that. “Where else could they go?” Artemis demanded, just as Ares began yelling that they had been taken hostages.

“Silence!” Athena shouted, and managed to gain a modicum of peace. “Does Hades suspect anything that could be responsible?” she wanted to know.

Nico shook his head. “He didn’t believe it was possible at first. Is Lady Persephone safe? He will be worried once he learns the gods have been disappearing as well.”

Athena shrugged. “Demeter would have known, but… She is no longer here to tell. If his wife makes herself known on Olympus, we will send word.”

“Mother,” Annabeth said, “we need more information about what happened. Maybe, if the spirits aren’t in the Underworld, they might be elsewhere? Do the gods know anything more about the event that caused the disappearances?”

Athena sighed heavily. “Yes,” she said. “And no. There was activity of some kind – a force none of us were able to recognize. We all _felt_ it, as if something was tampering with the very fabric of reality. But,” she said, “it was unfamiliar energy. Older than us, certainly.” _Older than the gods?_ Nico didn’t realize things like that were possible. “Then the disappearances began.”

“It felt like they were deaths,” Nico said. “Hazel and I both felt an overpowering sense of death. But it was wrong – not exactly dying,” he said. “At the time, I was overwhelmed, so I didn’t think about it. But it could have been that, instead.”

The goddess considered. “Possibly,” she agreed. “I am sorry. I don’t know anything else. You may seek out more information, but this is not in our power to undo.” She paused. “I truly am sorry, my daughter. I wish I could spare you from this.”

Nico put a hand on Annabeth’s arm. She gave him a weak smile.

“We will send word to the camp once we resolve matters here. For now,” Athena said, “just know I am glad you were spared, daughter.”

* * *

 

Nico walked Annabeth back to where the van was hidden. “You’re sure you won’t come back with me?” she asked. He shook his head.

“I need to go see my father again. He’ll want to know more about what’s happened. And… I’m not ready. It’s too much without her there.”

“We haven’t burned her burial shroud yet. I thought you might need to be there,” Annabeth said. “I’ve been weaving it myself.” She broke off abruptly. “What the Hades?”

They had reached the van. Someone had smashed in the windows and spray painted a tag on the hood of the car. “Someone saw through the Mist?” Nico asked, surprised.

Annabeth rushed to the car and threw open the trunk, digging through to find what had been taken. “It looks like they didn’t want anything, just came to smash it up,” she said. She froze. “Nico, my mom said that Hecate had vanished. You don’t think that means the Mist isn’t as strong anymore?”

Nico ran his hand over the dried spray paint. “It might,” he said. “What does that mean for us?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ll talk to Chiron about this. As if he needs more to worry about.” She dug out of the trunk of the car a parcel wrapped in unassuming brown paper. “At least they didn’t take this.” She handed it to Nico. “It’s Hazel’s shroud.”

He hesitated with it in his hands. “Won’t Frank want this?”

“Romans honor their dead differently,” she told him. “Besides, you’re her brother. It’s yours.”

Tears sprang to his eyes. “Alright,” he agreed. “I’m not ready to burn it yet. But… when I am, will you come help me with it?” He felt like he had no right to ask that, after he hadn’t been there for her. Still, the thought of honoring Hazel’s life by himself seemed too hard. He needed Annabeth to say she’d be there for him.

Annabeth wrapped him up in a hug before quickly stepping back. “Sorry if that was over the line,” she said. “I’m here for you, Nico. Always.” Without another word, she jumped in the car and started the engine. “I’m going to talk to Chiron for more answers. The energy might be older than the gods, but maybe he’s seen it before. I’ll update you as soon as I have any answers. Do the same for me, will you?”

He nodded and hugged the package to his chest, waving as she pulled away from the curb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yea so the chapter wound up being too long before any avengers showed up but I'm finishing up ch. 3 already and there will definitely be some actual crossing over in that one lol so please look forward to it

**Author's Note:**

> kind of a downer start lol but i have some more written already that will be forthcoming, just wanted to see if it was worth continuing any further. Haven't decided where I'll split chapter 2 and 3 yet but my guess is that at least one avenger will make it into chapter 2 so stay tuned B)


End file.
